Rant: Accident right after replacing parts

A

AdmiralYoda

Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Messages
495
Location
MA
Murphy's Law is alive and well. My wife has a 2016 Mazda CX-5 and recently went to get an inspection sticker. They failed her for having too much play in the driver's side lower ball joint. It is easier to replace the whole lower control arm than try and press a new ball joint in so that is what I did.

Spent a couple hours last Friday wrestling the rusty control arm bolts out and getting the ball joint to come loose from the spindle. Put the new control arm assembly in then took it for a quick drive and it seemed great.

Since I was covered head to toe with rust/dirt/grease I asked my wife to do a couple errands for me. About 30 minutes after I was done with the work she was sitting at a stop light and an accident happened with the oncoming traffic and a truck got pushed into her doing about 20mph. Guess what?!?!?! Hit the same wheel that I just worked on!

The fender, hood, bumper cover and headlight assemblies are toast. The control arm that I just replaced got bent and the wheel got pushed back a bit and is tilted. Seriously....30 minutes after I fixed it!

Murphy's law. Waiting for insurance to get involved. I don't think it's totaled, I couldn't see any obvious damage to the sub-frame. Fingers crossed.
 
AdmiralYoda said:
Seriously....30 minutes after I fixed it!
Click to expand...
That's about how long a radiator lasted that I replaced.... I had just finished replacing a leaking radiator and I was just out for a quick ride to the gas station and back to get it up to temperature, when I got rear-ended hard by a kid in an F-150, and that pushed me into the truck in front of me. My car was totalled and needless to say the brand-new radiator was ruined.
 
Sorry this happened. I feel your pain.

Less than two years ago my. 2020 Ram 1500 Lone Star with 8500 miles on it was totaled in a massive hail storm. We rarely used it except to haul a few things, so decided not to replace it. Instead, we had a trailer hitch put on our Audi Q5 (dealership over $3k) and bought a 10' aluminum trailer. On my way home from picking it up, waiting in traffic to get to the Stop sign to turn into our subdivision, as I was creeping forward and made it to the Stop sign, the pickup who'd been behind me didn't stop, like he had been until this time. His pickup was jacked up and went over the top of the trailer, hitting the back with bolts from his cross member. It bent the trailer, totaling it. The body shop said the car didn't have any damage except the trailer hitch was bent, but I never believed them, as the fender flairs on both sides popped out of place.

Ultimately replaced the Audi with a Honda Pilot a few weeks ago. On a long trip last week, going through a construction zone in PA, a rock hit the windshield leaving a gouge and small cracks. It held together until I got home and Safelite came out and did a repair, but the impact spot is still visible, but maybe it won't crack any farther.
 
Picture just to complain a bit more. For the record my wife is fine. Got a bit of whiplash and was a bit dizzy so they sent her to the hospital as a precaution. CT scan and X-ray were fine...just a stiff neck for a few days.

The fender got pushed back a bit but didn't damage the door. The wheel took the hardest hit and bent the control arm. Hard to see from the picture but the wheel is pushed back a bit and is tilted inwards at the top.

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Sorry to hear that. Sounds like my many random but unfortunate experiences.

Had a silver MR2 Toyota in the 80's. It got rear ended parked on Boston near the Cambridge Galleria on a surface street.
Waited for a month to get it in the body shop, they messed up the metalflake paint match, I rejected the job. They repainted it. Got it back finally a couple weeks later.
Then a couple days later car got rear ended while parked at the local grocery store. Got that fixed a month later. A couple months later crazy GF borrowed the car (I think she was mad at me - hard to tell) she took a decreasing radius on ramp way too fast and rode the guardrail for about 30 feet.
Got It fixed again and traded it for a little Ferrari Red Yugo GV on closeout sale for $3499 - or two for the price of one sale. Loved that little thing. About a year later, a co-worker and I went out partying at clubs near Fenway Park in Beantown. When spilling out of the club around 1a.m. to my dismay I see some rowdy kids must have turned the little car over and onto its roof. Gas spilling out of the filler and puddling on the street. Looked for a few mins, not a cop to be found. Half in the bag ourselves, we flipped the car back on it wheels, kicked out the shattered windshield and drove home. I will tell you spilled battery acid does a job on stuff under the hood! You coul smell the sulfur as it ate away at things. Later found that the car was totaled. Big surprise, Lol. Allstate gave me an option to have it repaired or say goodbye. I was thinking, "is this a trap?" I opted for the repair and drove it for a couple more years still running great. Body shop in Haverhill Mass. did an awesome job on paint and repairs.

-Arco "I've seen things"
 
Oof...sorry to hear this.

I have a different spin on the story, had an old Impala that my Dad and I did some work to replace the radiator, battery, and some other parts that I can't remember. About 3 weeks later the thing was stolen, and stripped for parts - there was nothing under the hood left but the engine block. I hope they at least got a good price for the new parts... :mad:
 
opus1 said:
I have a different spin on the story, had an old Impala that my Dad and I did some work to replace the radiator, battery, and some other parts that I can't remember. About 3 weeks later the thing was stolen, and stripped for parts - there was nothing under the hood left but the engine block. I hope they at least got a good price for the new parts... :mad:
Click to expand...
Reminds me of my friend's S-10 Blazer..... His Blazer was stolen, and then recovered a couple days later stripped of parts. He got it fixed, and then the very next day traded it in on a new Blazer (mainly because he couldn't tolerate the notion that bad people had been in his vehicle). The new Blazer later was involved in an accident and it took a very long time to get it fixed (due to waiting on parts, etc). Somewhere along the line he did a bunch of upgrades to the Blazer - slight suspension lift, bigger wheels, upgraded tranny cooler, etc. Then one day the new Blazer was stolen also! However that one was not recovered and he used the insurance money to buty- you guessed it - a third Blazer. As far as I remember, the third one served him a very long time.
 
Not identical, but similar sentiment. I had a Solara that I highly valued. It was a 5 speed V6, a rare combination. An excellent driving dynamic. I replaced the timing belt and suspension components, and engine mounts. The car drove like luxury: quiet, smooth, and clean.

A moron turned left in front of me and destroyed it. It was middle of the day. I was the only car in oncoming traffic. I mean, seriously had to be blind or looking at the mirror to miss me.

I still miss that Solara. Can’t get over the fact I lost it to such miserable circumstances. Now I plead to God that I don’t lose another car the same way.
 
Sorry. This is one of the issues with older cars, even nice ones that are worth more than the market value claims. An insurance company, or an adjuster couldn’t care less about the time or parts cost. It’s another number.

We see the issue more and more with newer and newer vehicles. It costs a lot to do work.

Hopefully you can be made whole. Keep those receipts and a valid basis of your value of time. You may need to sue the owner in small claims if you don’t get satisfaction.
 
JHZR2 said:
Sorry. This is one of the issues with older cars, even nice ones that are worth more than the market value claims. An insurance company, or an adjuster couldn’t care less about the time or parts cost. It’s another number.

We see the issue more and more with newer and newer vehicles. It costs a lot to do work.

Hopefully you can be made whole. Keep those receipts and a valid basis of your value of time. You may need to sue the owner in small claims if you don’t get satisfaction.
Click to expand...

hmmm......it depends on if you're in a hurry.
I had a car that was totaled in an accident (someone elses fault) and they offered $1500 for the car and wanted the vehicle for salvage value (this was in 1993 and it was a 1984 Sports car)
The car was like new before the accident. I said NO. I wanted $8000 and I keep the car. The case dragged on for two years and I think finally they were required by law to settle the case and paid the the $8000. I kept the car and moved the engine into a replacement.

It might be different if you are at fault. IDK.
And it's also possible things are much different now.
 
jjf729 said:
That will be totaled. Insurance is currently trying to total my 2016 Suburban for this.
Click to expand...
Think so? In MA the law states to use the "Total Loss Formula" which is the Fair Market Value minus the Scrap Value. KBB and my own searching show that Fair Market Value to be around $9-11k depending on private party or dealer.

Scrap Value is about $500 based on internet estimates. Even if the Total Loss Formula says the magic number is $8k....I don't know if that would be enough to total it.

As long as there is no structural damage, which I didn't see....I have a hard time seeing that much $$$. I can buy the fender, hood, inner fender, bumper, headlight and all the plastics for about $750 through RockAuto. Of course a repair shop is probably going to have higher costs due to overhead and markup.... but still.

It is crazy that your insurance is trying to total your 2016 Suburban....that looks like an easy repair!
 
I'm happy your wife is okay. Most important thing by far.

In my old GMC Sierra, I replaced the water pump, starter, fan assembly, flush and fill the coolant, new thermostat and hoses. It was an all day job. Truck running like a champ with 328K on it.

10 day later, transmission went.......traded it in at that point.
 
MaximumMini said:
hmmm......it depends on if you're in a hurry.
I had a car that was totaled in an accident (someone elses fault) and they offered $1500 for the car and wanted the vehicle for salvage value (this was in 1993 and it was a 1984 Sports car)
The car was like new before the accident. I said NO. I wanted $8000 and I keep the car. The case dragged on for two years and I think finally they were required by law to settle the case and paid the the $8000. I kept the car and moved the engine into a replacement.

It might be different if you are at fault. IDK.
And it's also possible things are much different now.
Click to expand...
Not wrong, just takes court time and perseverance.

The insurance companies lie with their illegal steering and resultant “proprietary” rate structures. Lowballing is nothing new either.
 
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